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Don't let this one slip through your fingers...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 62 / 68
Date: November 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is great! It is one of the best to be released for any system in quite some time. This game will be the standard by which all other action/adventure games will be judged for a long while. It has all the elements of a soaring adventure: action, drama, romance, and treachery.

The developers of this game have really earned their paychecks and put a ton of time into this gem. The Prince has many acrobatic abilities to aid him on his quest to harness the sands of time. He can run on walls, vault over enemies, fight multiple opponents, and control time itself. Death in this game is not the end...simply reverse time and try again.

Speaking of the moves and actions that the Prince can do...awesome!! The combat engine and interface are flawless and jaw droppingly smooth. Facing one opponent, move the analog stick back and press the square button to whip around and give the enemy sneaking up on you a good kick. Trapped by more enemies on all sides, vault over one and get yourself some breathing room. You can freeze enemies with the power of time, you can launch yourself off of wall for a more powerful attack, and you can even get a little help from Farrah, a mysterious woman also spared from the sands of time.

The environments are beautiful and richly detailed. Tapestries move as you walk past, water ripples, and dust falls from the decaying walls of the huge palace that you find yourself trapped in. The palace is quite large and has many areas to explore, nooks and crannies to check out, and a few secret areas.

The game is mosty a straightforward action/adventure quest with a few puzzles thrown in for good measure. Pulling levers, pushing blocks, swinging from walls and dodging traps are all skills that you will find yourself utilizing in dazzling combinations and myriad situations. The game is structured to provide a builing block system when it comes to controlling Prince. Moves are added one on top of another at appropriate times during the game so as to provide a good learning curve...before you know it you will be doing some pretty wild combo moves.

This game is awesome! It is a solid addition to any library and a treat for the eyes as well. This game is as fun to watch as it is to play and everyone should own it. This game is what the "Tomb Raider" series should have been! I simply can't praise it enough! Go buy it and find out for yourself!

The Thinking Man's Adventure game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 45 / 47
Date: November 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Prince of Persia is just amazing. Prince of Persia is not a hack and slash game, it's not a fighting game, it's not even really a platform game. The best way to describe it is is as a adventure puzzle game, similar to Ico.

Prince of Persia takes place in a huge palace, with many different levels. In fact, there are so many levels, progress is defined by percent, not level number. You control the Prince as he has to traverse the Palace. This palace is magnificent, and the atmosphere of the palace really shines. That alone is worth the price of the game. A lot of thought and artistic integrity was invested in this palace.

The Prince has to go through this palace while fighting monsters, which are pretty easy, while jumping, crawling, swinging, or moving objects his way out. That's the beauty of it. The movements to the next levels are the puzzle. It's worth noting that these puzzles are not random, boring search and try puzzle like in Silent Hill or Kings Quest. It's more of, "how can I get to that wall?", or "how can push that button?". The puzzle take thought, but there never random, off the wall puzzles (like spending hours trying to find a key or some other stuff like that).

Movement itself is a complete joy. Except for wall to wall jumps, movements don't require exact button pushing mechanics or precision timing. If you're on an overhang, and you need to jump to the next ledge, you just press x, and he'll jump and make it if you're aligned correctly. You can jump from wall to wall, jump up, jump down, run along wall, since, balance, crawl, and hang, and much more. If you do make a mistake, you've got the option of rewinding time, which means that you rarely repeat the same level over and over again. This means that the 12 hours to complete this is about 10 hours of real gameplay. Not like other games where 20 hours of gameplay is really just 5 hours extended over a long period of time through repetitive monsters or jumps, backtracking, or repeating levels.

The fights are pretty easy, but they are decent nonetheless. It's good to know that they didn't make it overly hard or pointless.

Somethings did bug me. Sometimes the camera angle is not the best. Sometimes you have to guess whether you can actually make a jump or not, or whether a ledge is there, and that could get annoying. Also, one level in particular near the end is very unintuitive. For some reason they take away your time reversal, they made the level really long, and the end of that level was very unintuitive and clumsy. That five minutes of gameplay took an agonizing hour and a half.

My other gripe are with the cut-scenes. For some idiotic reason, they decided to make the dialogue volume really low and the background noise extremely high, thus making the vocals unintelligible. I couldn't understand half of what was going on. Worst part is - no subtitles. It's extremely terrible since any major game should catch such a bug, and the fix is really easy. I guess they designed it for televisions with high wattage Dolby surround, as opposed to normal televisions.

Pros:
No cheats, guides needed - just thought and common sense
Atmosphere is amazing
Intuitive
Time reverse helps avoid repetition
Great flow
Good balance
Immense palace

Cons:
Some moves are clumsy - wall to wall jumps for example
Vocals in cut-scenes are way too soft

Difficulty - Easy

Frustration Level - Low

Time to Complete: 12 hours

Whole Lot Of Jumping Going On

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 22
Date: January 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I freely admit I'm an RPG fan first last and always. Not only that, but I like the excruciatingly long RPG/adventures that can take a year to complete if you're serious about them. For that reason (and the fact I have the reflexes of a snail) I have pathologically avoided platform games. Not only did I not 'get' them, but I did horribly even when I did.

Some recent experiences convinced me that maybe, just maybe, I should reconsider. Since Prince of Persia is 1) a name I actually recognize, and 2) getting rave reviews from everywhere, I picked it out for the great experiment. Frankly, I was blown away.

First of all, this is a beautiful game. The detailing of the oriental palace through which the Prince is racing to collect and return the sands of time is beautifully done. The characters are animated to the point of appearing almost natural. Dimensionality and background animation are perfect. And everything works together like a charm. This is the platform genre's equivalent of Final Fantasy X, and the effect is totally engaging.

In a sense, this is a puzzle game. In each setting you must examine the architecture and features to look for the right way to get from where you are to where you need to be. Because the game allows the player to rewind and retry a sequence of moves until they work with almost balletic synchronicity, you are never plagued with the 'Darn! I have to start over at the beginning' syndrome that has always been a bugaboo for me.

I could rave for a long time. There is something exhilarating about running along a narrow beam 300 feet in the air while slashing at sand bats. And done forget trading sarcastic remarks with a Princess while you are at it. Even if you are only doing so on a video monitor. If you only intend to try one frantic, action-filled platform game in your life, buy this one - you will love it.

prince of persia rocks and deserves 5 stars

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

this game is just plain awesome,you can run on walls and run up walls,but if you screw up you can just rewind time with your dagger. really don't listen to other people's review this is worth your time and money.you'll spend hours after hours on this game. it's awesome.

One of the Most Underrated Games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: February 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

These days, finding the perfect balance of graphics, play control, and plot in a game is like finding a needle in a haystack. Often too much focus is put on one aspect of the game while everything else remains seriously lacking. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time manages to bring a fairly equal balance while adding in a little bit of nostalgia for those of us who remember the original.

The story goes like this: there's this giant hourglass that contains "the Sands of Time" (therein lies the title), the hourglass can only be unlocked using the Dagger of Time. Both are considered treasures, but few know the horrors that will be unleashed if the hourglass is ever opened. Enter the prince...of Persia (and the rest of the title becomes clear), who through the treachery of the Vizier, mistakenly opens the hourglass and releases the Sands of Time turning the entire kingdom into a wasteland filled with sand zombies. Now it's up to the Prince and the Maharajah's daughter, Farah, to stop the zombies and return the Sands of Time to the hourglass.

The story seems a little simplistic, but it's well told. The entire game plays through the Prince's perspective as he narrates the story to someone. If you find yourself dead and needing to continue from a previous save, you'll hear the Prince correct his narration flub by saying "no, no, that's not how it happened", or "I didn't fall there". The narration also helps move the story along while the dialogue between Prince and Farah adds a little humor.

If you've played a Prince of Persia game before, you might as well ignore your previous experience because it won't do you much good here. Half the things Prince can do weren't even dreamt of when the original game was made. Throughout the game you'll have to rely on running, jumping, swinging, tight-rope walking, wall-walking, and combat just to progress further in the game. At times you'll be forced to run along a wall to reach a distant ledge, only to have to leap from the crumbling ledge to a stalactite that's about to fall, leap to another, then another, and finally to a safe ledge. There's little room for error, so enter the Dagger of Time. Using the dagger you can rewind time after you die. Missed that last jump? No problem, just rewind and do it again. Unfortunately you can only do this a limited number of times, and you can only go so far back in time. The dagger also allows you to slow down time, or stop it entirely while giving Prince a speed boost to quickly eliminate enemies. The drawback is that all of this requires sand tanks, sand you can acquire by defeating the numerous sand zombies.

The game controls well, there are few complaints there. Controlling time and numerous save points keep you from getting too frustrated, while cutscenes at save points also give you a glimpse of things to come and provide hints on how to solve puzzles or make your way through an area. If I were to nitpick about anything it would be the fighting. Most of the time you find yourself surrounded by three or more enemies and it becomes difficult trying to defeat them, especially when you have to deliver a killing blow using the dagger to prevent zombies from rising again.

Graphically, the game is gorgeous, and coming from a guy who never uses the word "gorgeous", you know the graphics are good. The lighting is perfect, the game is filled with well rendered locations, and even simple things like realistically moving cloths on the walls make the areas seem almost alive. To top it off fog-like sand covers some parts of the ground adding to the game's atmosphere. The downside is the Prince, Farah, and the zombies aren't rendered quite as well as the backgrounds, but they're impressive.

If there were any glaring downside to the game, it would be the sound. Often the sound makes it feel like you're playing the game with a bucket on your head. It's a shame too, because the voice acting, music, and sound effects are actually decent.

The game isn't long, and it's not all that hard either. There's a fair amount of difficult gameplay that will have you repeating some tasks, but by the time you get really good at the game, it's already over. But the question many of you are asking is "is it worth my precious, hard-earned money?" Well, if you ask me, it is. But I'm still going to recommend renting it first, just to get a feel for it and see what it's all about before you shell out the cash for it. Even if you don't end up buying it, I promise you'll at least get something out of this excellent game.

A simply wonderful game that is a must buy for Cube owners

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: February 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have just finished this game and must say that is it among the most memorable I have ever played. The game not only consists of some of the smoothest animation ever seen in a 3d game, but also voice acting that is light years ahead of most other adventure games.

The plot concerns a prince who unleashes an ancient curse and must fight to undo his error. The gameplay consists of amazing swordfighting, clever puzzles and what can only be described as acrobatic moves that give you the feeling of truly flying.

There are those who claim this game is too showrt. Well, it took me 17+ hours to beat it and since you can rewind time, you do not repeat many sequences from the beggining which artificially adds playtime to a game.

I am not alone in my praise since this game has won more Game of the Year awards than any other 2003 release.

Please pick up this game so we can send developers a message that brilliance will be rewarded.

This is a Truly Fun Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: December 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Not to sound like an idiot, but I have loved Prince of Persia since the beginning of the series. Prince of Persia 1 amazed me, Prince of Persia 2 seemed like it had to be the best game ever, and when Prince of Persia 3D cameout I couldn't wait!!

As it turned out 3D didn't really do much for the Prince franchise, but this game makes right everything that was (barely) made wrong with the prior attempt at 3d-izing Prince of Persia. If you're reading this review, you've probably already read 80 reviews that say this game is the game of the year, BUT THERE IS A REASON EVERYONE IS SAYING THAT!! This game is an amazing amount of fun, and was definitely worth the $50 I spent to buy it.

The Sands of Time feature is amazingly cool, and is probably the most exciting thing to add to gaming since bullett time in Max Payne. The Prince's swashbuckling kickass sword play is sooooo much more fun than shooting, punching, or jumping on (think Jak and Mario) your enemies!! All video games should have swords as mandatory weapons because they are such a better weapon (you all know how much cooler Pirates of the Caribbean was than the Matrix Revolutions and it's because of the swords!!).

My biggest complaint about this game is the health meter. The designers should have stuck with the typical life potion bottles that the Prince games have always had, but whatever, it's not really that big a deal.

I know this isn't the most descriptive review ever, but you've probably already read those in the gaming magazines. This review is simply to say from one gamer to another that this really is a fun and enjoyable game. Buy it. You won't be disappointed.

How can such a great game be so annoying?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: March 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There's a generation who will blink at the unrecognized word "Karataka." Prince of Persia may be some obscure reference. Owning a C-64 might even be a prerequisite to "getting" this game.

The nastolgia that Prince of Persia can is basically lost to a large portion of gamers. But for those who remember the old 2d Prince of Persia games, believe it or not, this newest addition to the series somehow keeps true to the original.

Prince of Persia was kind of an oddity when it first landed on the market. It was a super slick game that took sprite animation to all new levels. The character moved fluidly and with almost no break in continuity. Disney would have been proud. But this caused the player to have to mash the proper move well in advance or blades would impale the hero or a swinging gate would chop him in half.

Sands of Time brings back the same game play in a 3d polygon world. It's unmistakably Prince of Persia. And overall it's a great game. The character dynamics are better animated than the average PS2 game. The play area is pretty well realized and detailed. Game play flows nicely and moves are pretty basic and easy to master, even if the timing is not. (This game is all about timing.)

Unfortunately, the good points stop there. Sands of Time is filled with bugs. The event driven game triggers events incorrectly all the time. It's a game that demands saving often and using the save slots strategically. I've saved a bad event trigger that would have effectively prevented me from completing the game. I had to back down about five save games to recover. It is definitely annoying.

There are other odd annoyances. The save game routine takes about three confirmations to save the game, yet quitting only takes one. If you step too closely to the save vortex, you invoke it intended or not. (Sometimes the vortex is jammed right into a key area. Instead of climbing a ledge, I've found myself facing the annoying repetitive "Do you want to save?" messages).

Replay is limited. It's a bit too long to go through the entire game over and over. It's a bit too short to be a really good gaming experience.

Renting might be a good alternative. Otherwise, I'd rank this as a must have if you are a series of the fan or a 20-something ranked title on a gamer's shelf.

Worth every single penny

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I wasn't sure this was a game I could learn to play. Screenshots and trailers intimidated me. I'm not a hard core gamer I can't play more than one hour a day and some days I can't even get close to de PS2, so I didn't want to buy something I wasn't going to be able to play, because it was going to take to much time to learn.
But this game is amazingly easy to learn to play, because it has very responsive controls. I can only remember twice or thrice having camera problems. I beat the game and with the help of a guide on the web I unlocked prince of persia, which I'll play in a while.
The graphics are great, the story is very good and has a unexpected ending. This year the only better game I have played is Onimusha 3 but there are some things POP is better tha Onimusha, basically the acrobatic moves of the prince and the ability to turn back time when you die or make a wrong move like jumping instead of wall running. I enjoyed every minute of the ten hours of gameplay. Every single move you learn you need to master in order to complete the levels, especially the last three ones. This is a game anyone from novice to expert can play and enjoy.

Prince of Persia vs. God of War?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Hi there, Prince of Persia here - yes the one from 'Sands of Time', and NOT the nefarious pretender in 'Warrior Within'. I hear people comparing me to Kratos, so I took a look at 'God of War', which by the way is a great game but certainly NOT better than 'Sands of Time'. Here are my impressions.

- As you know, I'm from Persia, the great empire that in its 7000 year history invented the cuneiform, wine, composite bow, bronze smelting, and iron weapons. Our empire stretched from Europe and North Africa to Central/South Asia, while Sparta (where Kratos is from) was a small city state founded in 900 B.C. and whose decline began only 500 years later after their ignominious defeat to the Thebans. Spartans are, of course, well known for their iron discipline and prowess in battle, and I have a great respect for them.

- On a personal level, Kratos is built to be a warrior, where I was really trained to be an emperor. I'm about 6'1" / 170 pounds, where Kratos looks to be about 6'7" / 240 pounds. Kratos is built for raw power, and wields two MASSIVE swords with which he can pulverize stone walls. I'm built for agility and speed, and endowed with superior intelligence to turn any situation to my advantage. Kratos will have had much difficulty with many of the platforming puzzles I had to overcome in 'Sands of Time', while I may have needed more power to subdue some of Ares's more gigantic minions. Overall, you must admit that I move with fierce grace and athleticism that surpasses Kratos' moves.

- To be fair, Kratos was not always given proper intelligence by the makers of 'God of War', e.g. unable to rotate the so-called 'camera' to precisely locate his objective, e.g. in order to be able to see the ladder in the Pandora's room, he had to swim around and around the central pool. No wonder Kratos vented his accumulated frustrations in such brutal manner when the enemies finally came.

- Again to be fair, I was not given the kind of magical combat spells that Gods endowed upon Kratos, which I feel are unfair advantages, but then again Kratos did not have a means of controlling TIME like I did.

- I, on the other hand, had to exercise my already-superior brains far more, since UbiSoft had crafted the puzzles so thoughtfully and intelligently. The platforming challenges in 'God of War' are not nearly as creative or well-thought-out. This is ok though, since as an emperor-in-training, I had to learn to rely more on my intelligence and instinct and less on brute strength to solve the increasingly complex problem of ruling an empire. That said, I wish I had Kratos' powers to make confetti out of Alexander the Great (What's so 'Great' about him? Read about 'Cyrus the Great' and 'Darius the Great', who achived FAR more than Alexander ever did.), who marked the beginning of the end for the great Persian empire.

- As for the commonality, Kratos and I were both able to save his progress in the same "Mysterious Glow" as I did, were given a 'flying camera' preview of the platforming layouts, cinematic close-ups of special attack moves, moody music and spectacular scenery, not to mention the nubile maidens who help us relax. Both of us fought mostly alone against countless supernatural evil entities and for NO monetary compensation - both of us are noble warriors and NOT some hack-and-slash mercenaries obsessed with collecting treasures.

Overall, Kratos is an extraordinary warrior but his crude brutality (especially against innocent civilians) may make it difficult for people to identify with him as a leader. He cannot be compared to a future emperor like myself who had to cultivate sophistication in so many diverse areas in order to prepare myself for the day when I take the throne. Kratos will make a fine general under my command, but only if he resolves his manic obsession with personal vendetta against the gods.

That's all. I hope to see you guys again if and when UbiSoft comes around to actually creating a sequel to 'Sands of Time' that does any justice to my extraordinary gifts and nobility.

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